New NASA Space Sensors to Address Key Earth Questions

Why is the Arctic warming faster than the rest of the planet?
Does mineral dust warm or cool the atmosphere? NASA has selected two new,
creative research proposals to develop small, space-based instruments that will
tackle these fundamental questions about our home planet and its environment. NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is a key participant on both
instruments.

The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment
(PREFIRE) will fly a pair of small CubeSat satellites to probe a little-studied
portion of the radiant energy emitted by Earth for clues about Arctic warming,
sea ice loss and ice-sheet melting. Tristan L'Ecuyer of the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, is the principal investigator.

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT)
will use a sensor mounted to the exterior of the International Space Station to
determine the mineral composition ofnatural sources that produce dust aerosols around the world. By
measuring in detail which minerals make up the dust, EMIT will help to answer
the essential question of whether this type of aerosol warms or cools the
atmosphere. Robert Green of JPL is the principal investigator.

These two instruments were competitively selected from 14
proposals considered under NASA's fourth Earth Venture Instrument opportunity.
Earth Venture investigations are small, targeted science investigations that
complement NASA's larger missions. The National Research Council recommended in
2007 that NASA undertake this type of regularly solicited, science-based,
quick-turnaround project. The council's recently released decadal survey
recommended the continuance of the program.

"PREFIRE and EMIT make innovative use of technologies
first developed by NASA for planetary missions to address important,
longstanding questions about Earth," said Michael Freilich, director of the
Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The Arctic helps to regulate Earth's overall temperature by
radiating back into space much of the excess energy from the Sun that is
absorbed at lower latitudes. Current satellite instruments do not detect all of
the wavelengths of this energy radiating from our planet. PREFIRE will fill in
the current data gap at far-infrared wavelengths, collecting information that
will help scientists diagnose the impact of this outgoing radiation on the
Arctic region's energy balance.

PREFIRE will fly miniaturized thermal infrared spectrometers
on two CubeSat satellites, each about the size of a loaf of bread. The sensors
are based on technology previously flown on the Mars Climate Sounder, an instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter. The CubeSats will orbit Earth's poles to measure far-infrared
emissions and how they change throughout the day and over seasons. The
observations will allow scientists to assess how changes in thermal infrared
emissions at the top of Earth's atmosphere are related to changes in cloud
cover and surface conditions below, such as the amount of sea ice and meltwater
on the surface of the ice.

The PREFIRE team brings together expertise in remote sensing,
Earth system modeling and Arctic ice. JPL and the Space Dynamics Laboratory of
North Logan, Utah, are mission partners. JPL is responsible for project
management and is building and delivering the instrument. Brian Drouin of JPL
is the deputy principal investigator, while JPL's Brian Kahn and Nicole-Jeanne
Schlegel are co-investigators.

The composition of airborne dust particles is
largely unknown, but it is a critical factor in determining whether
mineral-based dust has a cooling or warming effect on the atmosphere.
Scientists do not currently have a global inventory of the natural mineral
sources of dust, and as a result the global impacts of dust on weather,
atmospheric circulation and other aspects of Earth's environment are not well
established.

EMIT's hyperspectral instrument will measure the
different wavelengths of light emitted by minerals on the surface of deserts
and other dust sources to determine their composition. The EMIT sensor is based
in part on NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

The EMIT team brings together broad expertise
that covers mineral measurements, soil science, remote sensing of surface
properties and Earth system modeling. The project's modeling component will use
the data collected to advance our understanding of the role of atmospheric dust
in Earth's climate and better predict how it can be expected to change in the
future.

Earth Venture missions provide an innovative approach to
address Earth science research with regular windows of opportunity to
accommodate new scientific priorities. The missions are managed by NASA's Earth
System Science Pathfinder program, located at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Virginia, for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

The first Earth Venture instruments headed to space are
preparing for launch within the next year. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics
Investigation (GEDI) and the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment
on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) will measure the distributions, canopy heights and
changes in global vegetation from the space station, providing insights into
how forests and ecosystems are affected by changes in water availability and
other environmental and human factors.

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our
understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA
develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems
with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and
works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our
planet is changing.